Why I worry about my church

Recently the Episcopal Church has gone through turmoil once again.  I say once again because I remember from my younger days the controversy over replacing the 1928 prayer book and the 1940 hymnal with the 1982 hymnal, and the ordination of women into the priesthood (priestess hood?).  Everybody got all upset, yelled at each other; left the church, came back to the church, and eventually forgot about it.  This time it is more serious.  The ordination of openly gay, unrepentant, homosexuals has caused the largest schism that I can remember.  I have never heard such unkind, judgmental, and harsh comments from people.  Unfortunately the comments are not from the people leaving the Episcopal Church and joining the Anglican Church, but from the people who have stayed when talking about the ones who left.  I know that these names can be confusing, so I will interrupt myself here for a brief explanation of what all these church names mean.
 
After the Revolutionary War America wanted its own church, separate from the Church of England.  The head of the Church of England was the King and he was the defender and keeper of the faith.  The Bishop of Canterbury was and is the head of the diocese of England.  A diocese is a group of parishes under one bishop.  In the Episcopal and Anglican tradition the highest authority in the church is the individual bishop in his diocese.  There is no Pope or Caliphate or Grand Dragon.  Just as in"Royal Liers Poker" that I used to play, it takes three jacks or better to open (you play with three decks) it takes three bishops to create a bishop. We wanted our own church unaffiliated with England so we got three Scottish bishops together and turned some our clergy into Bishops in order to form a separate Episcopal church in the United States (the word Episcopal is Greek and it means “to be governed by bishops.)

The Episcopal shield is blue and separated into four sections by a white cross.  The upper left has an “X” which is not for Malcolm X or a Confederate battle flag, but is a St. Andrews Cross in order to honor our Scottish heritage by thanking the Church of Scotland for “getting us started”, so to speak.  There are many Anglican traditions in many countries throughout the world.

Getting back to our original discussion, the accusation that I repeatedly get is that, “Those people stated a new church based on hate.”  The presumption here is that these communicants left the Episcopal Church and formed a church under the authority of the  Anglican Church in Africa is because they hate homosexuals.  The first time I heard this I dismissed it as simple dislike from my liberal friends for the typical conservative members who had left.   I heard the same accusation again today.  This concerns me because I don’t understand how we will ever get back together.  One side thinks that the other left because of hate and the other believes that the other side has embraced evil. I offer an example from the recent story in England from channel 4 news where they secretly recorded video from Greenland Mosque in Birmingham England, and others throughout Europe.  In addition to degrading women, advocating violence against homosexuals, overthrowing local governments, and killing Jews and Christians, they preach from example that it is permissible for older men to marry girls as young as ten years old (yes the Prophet Muhammad  was a pervert).  

All of these teaching are taken directly from the Koran and are thus “scripturally supportable” as we would say in our faith.  I pray that few “run of the mill” Muslims believe this garbage but many do.  If the local mosque decides that it is OK to permit this child abuse, and some of the members say it is wrong, leave the mosque and form a new mosque, are we to interpret that these people “hate old men who marry young girls” or is it the moral outrage that caused them to leave.  I believe that it is the latter.  I am not equating homosexuality with child molestation but am merely trying to convey the cultural values of the people that left the church.  These values constantly change, primarily by learning from other cultures, Hollywood and television in all its permeations, powerful people with agendas, and experience with movements throughout our lifetimes.  What was OK yersterday may not be acceptable tommorow, or vise versa.  The most intolerant people are often the people who are intolerant of the intolerant. 

I don’t know how we will begin the process to reunite with our lost brothers and sisters who have left the Episcopal Church, but it won’t be by believing that they left because they hate gays.

 
Pat Bratton

Back